1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention pertains to building construction paper such as that often called Builder's Felt.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
Many building construction professionals have used the various forms of a nonwoven continuous web, often impregnated with asphalt, as a layer to place underneath other building products such as shingles, sheathing, and flooring. Because of the usual location of the nonwoven web, i.e., underneath other products, it has been called “underlayment” or “underlay”.
For many years prior art webs have served in building construction as a base material that is converted into roofing, siding, and flooring felt. In addition, various types of nonwoven continuous web sheets have also been used as a “facer” material for foamed insulation board laminates. In these foamed insulation board laminates, facer materials typically form a sandwich panel where the core material is comprised of polyisocyanurate foam. These foamed insulation laminates are typically utilized as side-wall or roofing insulation. The two facers of a laminated roof insulation board can be a glass fiber reinforced felt. One such facer material is made by Atlas Roofing Corporation, and is called “GRF (Glass-Reinforced-Felt) Facer”.
A recently developed and popular nonwoven web is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,736 to Bush et al. Prior art facer webs are listed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,736 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/971,771, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Outside of the building construction arena, the practice of treating nonwoven web materials with anti-microbial chemicals has become more widespread as health standards have improved worldwide. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,734,157 treats nonwoven web materials with anti-microbial chemicals. However, the field of anti-microbial treated nonwoven webs for building products is relatively barren.
The principal biology responsible for the health problems in many buildings are fungi rather than bacteria or viruses. Reports have indicated that Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus versicolor, and several toxigenic species of Penicillium are potentially hazardous, especially when the air-handling systems have become heavily contaminated.
Perhaps the most hazardous of the toxigenic fungi found in wet buildings is Stachybotrys chartarum, a fungus known to produce the very potent cytotoxic macrocyclic trichothenes along with a variety of immunosuppressants and endothelin receptor antagonists mycotoxins. This fungus was investigated for its association with the serious health problems of a family living in a water-damaged home in Chicago and has been implicated in several cases of building-related illness. Also, a cluster of cases of acute pulmonary hemorrhage/hemosiderosis was reported in Cleveland, Ohio.
While there has been some progress in nonwoven webs in personal hygiene technology, the control of molds and fungus in building construction nonwoven web products has yet to be substantially addressed. What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present invention, is a nonwoven web for building products that resists growth of fungi and molds, and a method of making the same.